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Thursday, June 05, 2014

Grant Holmes is the Dodgers 1st Round Draft Pick

With the Dodgers playing a crappy version of Baseball, tonight's 2014 MLB Amateur Baseball draft couldn't come at a better time. After all, I would much rather spend my free time dreaming about the future, than fretting over how bad we are today.

Fortunately, there are several names already in the Dodger farm system that keeps me excited and engaged. We've got slugger Joc Pederson causing some damage in Albuquerque, Corey Seager is tearing it up in Single-A, and Julio Urias makes me hopeful than another ace will arrive soon.

I wonder who, if any of the future Dodgers drafted over the next few days will find themselves on the above list. All I know is that it'll be fun to watch and learn about their development over the next coming months and years.

With all of that being said, the 1st Round Draft pick for the Dodgers, 22nd overall, of 2014 is South Carolina right-handed pitcher Grant Holmes from Conway High School. In celebration of Holmes' being chosen by the Dodgers in the 1st round of the draft, I made the below fantasy card
for him. I used a
photo grabbed from Grand Strand Sports (photo by Chuck Silvey)
in his high school uniform and the 1987 Topps Baseball card
design.

Grant is 6' 2" and about 200 lbs. Reports indicate that he throws a mid-90's fastball and has a good breaking ball. He has already verbally committed to play college ball at the University of Florida, but we'll see if he can be convinced into turning pro right away. BTW, he is on twitter, and you can find him here - @GHolmes_14. Jim Callis at MLB.com recently wrote that he was the 3rd best prep arm in the country:

Holmes established himself as a likely first-rounder with a series of
strong performances on the showcase circuit last summer, and he has
been better than ever this spring. He made scouts sit up and notice when
he fired a 100-mph fastball during a preseason scrimmage, and he
continued to deliver outstanding velocity throughout his senior season.
Holmes repeatedly worked at 91-97 mph, also impressing with his improved
ability to locate his fastball on both sides of the plate.

Holmes can devastate hitters with his curveball as well. At its best,
it grades as well above average, a low-80s power breaker with good
depth. He didn't need it much against high school competition, but the
Florida recruit also has made significant strides with his changeup,
which can run to either side and shows flashes of becoming a plus pitch.

"The only knock on Holmes is his height, but he's strong, so he does
it easy," an area scout said. "We've seen 97-98 mph in the seventh
inning. I've seen three plus pitches and the ability to maintain his
velocity. I like him a lot. He really competes and he has feel for
pitching."

Holmes has an excellent power
curveball as well. It's arguably his best pitch and it is a big league
average pitch now with the potential to be a plus-plus pitch. It has
tight spin and good depth at 82-85 MPH. The velocity will make many say
it's a slider but there is very little horizontal movement to it. It's
just a hard downer curveball and he delivers it with exceptional skill.

He even offers a solid change
that could be above average. Holmes has a lot of polish and has
everything he needs to make it a plus pitch as well. It sits in the mid
80's as well and it comes out of the same angle and similar arm speed as
his fastball, allowing it to be projected as above average or even
better.

The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected Conway High School (SC) right-handed pitcher Grant Holmes with their first pick (22nd overall) in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder struck out 82 batters in only 40.0 innings
this season, while posting a 4-1 record with a 0.35 ERA on his way to
Gatorade's South Carolina Player of the Year honors at Conway High
School (SC). At the plate this season, the 18-year-old batted .305 with a
.494 on-base percentage.

"We feel fortunate to have gotten a player of Grant's magnitude at
pick 22," said Dodger Vice President, Amateur Scouting Logan White.
"He's a mature, young and strong-bodied pitcher who throws hard and has a
great breaking ball, but what separates him is he is a fierce
competitor."

Holmes, whose brother, Colby, signed as a non-drafted free agent with Atlanta last June, was rated as the 16th-best prospect by Baseball America.

The Dodgers have selected a pitcher with their top pick in the draft
11 of the last 12 years, and their next selection in the second round is
the 62nd overall.